BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNANCE AND FINANCE
Senator Robert M. Hertzberg, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
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|Bill No: |SB 379 |Hearing | 4/15/15 |
| | |Date: | |
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|Author: |Jackson |Tax Levy: |No |
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|Version: |4/7/15 |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant|Weinberger |
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CLIMATE CHANGE HAZARDS AND LAND USE PLANNING
Requires cities and counties to review and update their general
plans' safety elements to address risks posed by climate change.
Background and Existing Law
Every county and city must adopt a general plan with seven
mandatory elements: land use, circulation, housing,
conservation, open space, noise, and safety. Except for the
housing elements, state law does not require counties and cities
to regularly revise their general plans. Cities and counties'
major land use decisions --- subdivisions, zoning, public works
projects, use permits --- must be consistent with their general
plans. Development decisions must carry out and not obstruct a
general plan's policies.
To help local officials interpret these statutory requirements,
the Governor's Office of Planning and Research (OPR) publishes
General Plan Guidelines. OPR's Guidelines recommend the
information that local planners should collect, suggest goals,
policies, and objectives that local general plans could adopt,
and list a wide range of feasible implementation measures to
carry out those local goals. OPR is expected to release updated
General Plan Guidelines later in 2015.
The Planning and Zoning Law says that the safety element's
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purpose is to protect the community from unreasonable risks from
geologic hazards, flooding, and wildland and urban fires. In
2007, the Legislature expanded the safety elements' contents for
flood hazards (AB 162, Wolk, 2007). Similarly, in 2012, the
Legislature expanded the safety elements' contents for fire
risks on land classified as SRA and very high fire hazard
severity zones (SB 1241, Kehoe, 2012). The Wolk and Kehoe bills
require safety elements to contain:
Specified information about flood hazards and fire
hazards.
Based on that information, a set of comprehensive goals,
policies, and objectives to protect against unreasonable
flood risks and fire risks.
To carry out those goals, a set of feasible
implementation measures.
In recent years, local officials have started to focus more
attention on the risks posed to communities throughout
California by the potential effects of global climate change,
including increased temperatures, sea level rise, a reduced
winter snowpack, altered precipitation patterns, and more
frequent storm events. Some recent state climate change
planning documents have suggested that local general plans
should be amended to incorporate climate change adaptation and
resilience policies.
Proposed Law
Senate Bill 379 requires cities and counties to review and
update their safety elements to address climate adaptation and
resiliency strategies applicable to the city or county. Local
officials must act the next time they revise their housing
elements on or after January 1, 2017.
SB 379 requires cities and counties to consider the Governor's
Office of Planning and Research General Plan Guidelines and
expands the required contents of safety elements to include:
A vulnerability assessment that identifies what risks
climate change poses to the local jurisdiction and
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specified information about climate change risks,
including:
o Information from the web-based Cal-Adapt tool;
o Information from the most recent version of
the California Adaptation Planning Guide;
o Information from local agencies on the types
of assets, resources, and populations that will be
sensitive to various climate change exposures;
o Information from local agencies on their
current ability to deal with the impacts of climate
change;
o Historical data on natural events/hazards,
including locally prepared maps of areas subject to
previous risk, areas that are vulnerable, and sites
that have been repeatedly damaged;
o Existing and planned development in identified
at-risk areas, including structures, roads, utilities,
and essential public facilities; and
o Public agencies with responsibility for the
protection of public health, safety, and the
environment.
Based on that information, a set of adaptation and
resilience goals, policies, and objectives for the
protection of the community from climate change risks
identified in the vulnerability assessment.
To carry out those goals, policies, and objectives, a
set of feasible implementation measures, including:
o Methods to avoid or minimize climate change
impacts associated with new uses of land.
o The relocation, when feasible, of new
essential public facilities outside of at-risk areas,
including hospitals and health care facilities,
emergency shelters, emergency command centers, and
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emergency communications facilities, or identifying
construction methods or other methods to minimize
damage if these facilities are located in at-risk
areas.
o The designation of adequate infrastructure if
a new development is located in an at-risk area,
including safe access for emergency vehicles.
o Guidelines for working cooperatively with
relevant public agencies.
To comply with SB 379's requirements, a city or county can
update its safety element by attaching or making reference to a
plan or document separate from the general plan that that
fulfills commensurate goals and objectives and contains
information required by the bill.
State Revenue Impact
No estimate.
Comments
1. Purpose of the bill . Comprehensive land use planning serves
two purposes. First, it helps public officials avoid problems
when they make decisions about the future. Second, it helps
public officials solve past problems. The Legislature promoted
both of those purposes in 2007 and 2012 when it increased the
local planning requirements for flood and fire hazards.
Legislators required local general plans' safety elements to
present information, set goals and policies based on that
information, and come up with feasible measures to carry out
those goals and policies. That three-part approach helps city
councils and county supervisors make better land use decisions
that avoid or minimize the risks of flooding and fires. SB 379
applies the same three-part approach to the risks associated
with climate change. California's 2009 Climate Adaptation
Strategy recommends that "communities with General Plans and
Local Coastal Plans should begin, when possible, to amend their
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plans to assess climate change impacts, identify areas most
vulnerable to these impacts, and develop reasonable and rational
risk reduction strategies." Using the accepted three-part
approach to land use planning, SB 379 will help local officials
make better land use decisions in anticipation of climate
change's impacts.
2. Who pays ? The Legislature first required cities and
counties to adopt general plans in 1937 (AB 722, Weber, 1937).
Over the last 70 years, legislators have insisted on
increasingly detailed local plans. The recent trend has been to
require general plans to pay more attention to specialized
topics: San Joaquin Valley's air quality (AB 170, Reyes, 2003),
wildland fires (AB 3065, Kehoe, 2004, and AB 1241, Kehoe, 2012),
tribal cultural places (SB 18, Burton, 2004), military operating
areas (SB 926, Knight, 2004), and flood hazards (AB 162, Wolk,
2007). When land use problems hit the headlines, the
Legislature imposes new planning chores on cities and counties.
But, California doesn't invest State General Fund money in
long-range, comprehensive, local planning. The burden of
funding these new state mandated local programs falls on local
general funds and on the property owners who apply for
development permits. SB 379 is another well-intentioned, but
unfunded, state mandated local program.
3. Other planning documents . General plans' safety elements
are not the only planning documents that can play a role in
promoting climate change resilience and adaptability in local
communities. Many communities prepare hazard mitigation plans
pursuant to requirements specified in federal law. Other
communities have added a separate climate change element into
their general plan documents. SB 379 allows a safety element to
incorporate, by reference, other planning documents that fulfill
the same purposes specified by the bill. Legislators may also
wish to consider whether climate change resilience and
adaptation should be incorporated into other general plan
elements, like the conservation element or land use element.
4. The great unknown . Land use planning stakeholders
throughout California are anxiously awaiting the Governor's
Office of Planning and Research's updated general plan
guidelines. The update that is expected to be released later
this year will likely contain extensive new advice for
incorporating climate change considerations into local
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governments' land use planning efforts. SB 379 specifically
requires local governments to consider OPR's guidelines when
amending their safety elements. But, legislators may wish to
consider whether SB 379's provisions will need to be amended
after the updated guidelines are released to ensure that the
bill's provisions are consistent with OPR's document.
5. Double-referred . The Senate Rules Committee has ordered a
double-referral of SB 379 --- first to the Senate Governance &
Finance Committee which has policy jurisdiction over the land
use statutes, and then to the Senate Environmental Quality
Committee.
Support and
Opposition (4/9/15)
Support : Audubon California; California League of Conservation
Voters; Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation; Nature
Conservancy.
Opposition : Unknown.
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